


Congratulations

by i_write_shakespeare_not_disney



Series: Angsty/Fluffy/Smutty Klance One Shots from Tumblr [3]
Category: Voltron - Fandom, Voltron: Legendary Defender, vld - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Congratulations, Hamilton inspired, Other, keith stands up for him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-05
Updated: 2017-12-05
Packaged: 2019-02-10 22:20:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12921402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_write_shakespeare_not_disney/pseuds/i_write_shakespeare_not_disney
Summary: I drew a comic based on Congratulations from the Hamilton Mixtape and wrote a one shot for it.





	Congratulations

It was safe to say the recent battle had been a complete disaster. Keith was still getting used to being the leader of Voltron, and so was everyone else. They still struggled in battle sometimes since Keith listened to his instincts more than anything and was still as impulsive as ever. This last battle however?

A complete train wreck.

They’d gone into it in a rush, Allura’s lion slamming into Hunk’s on accident before she managed to control Blue again. Then Keith had struggled to control the black lion; it felt far bulkier than Red, slower and clumsier. It was aggravating. Because of it, not only had he gotten hit with an ion blaster, but the hit had pushed him into Pidge and caused her to spiral out far enough to get hit with one of the fighter planes.

The one who struggled most had been Lance. Red was too fast for him. She moved too easily, with the slightest nudge, and he couldn’t time the turns or hits right no matter how good of a shot he was on his own. He’d managed to miss several shots, shooting at Pidge and Allura each on separate times, and even shoving Keith in the black lion.

Finally, they had to simply stand down and get back to the castle before any of them were hurt too badly. Pidge already had a dislocated shoulder which Lance kept apologizing for, despite Pidge assuring him it had been from her own lack of control. Hunk had already barfed twice, and Keith was tired and fuming with his uselessness as the Black Lion’s pilot.

Watching Lance beat himself up over how badly he’d piloted Red made Keith frustrated. He wasn’t the only who had messed up, did he have to be so hard on himself? Finally, he pulled him away from Pidge and snapped his fingers in his face to get his focus.

“Listen to me, Lance. We’re all getting used to this. It’s not your fault.” Lance stared at him with furrowed eyebrows, eyes wide, jaw clenched. “We all made mistakes. We’re humans. Well, most of us are at least.” Lance sighed and ducked his head. Keith resisted the urge to tilt it back up. “Go get some rest okay? Pidge is a strong girl she’ll be fine.” He gave his shoulder a slight squeeze and gently nudged him toward the door.

He walked over to Pidge and sighed. “It was from his hit,” she whispered, wincing as she repositioned her arm once her shoulder was popped back in. “But I can’t stand that look on his face.”

“Me either,” he admitted.

Pidge looked at him and shook her head. “You don’t get it. Back at the Garrison, Lance would drive himself nuts when he did something wrong. He’d talk himself down so much, and it took me and Hunk _weeks_ to get him back to normal. He can’t stand letting anyone down.” She looked at Keith sadly and shook her head.

Keith understood that. He understood feeling like you _couldn’t_ mess up because messing up meant you were useless and pathetic and stupid and every horrible feeling that could cling to a person to degrade themselves. He stood and bit his lip, wondering if he should leave Lance alone or check on him.

Before he could begin pacing, Pidge said, “Go. Make sure he really is okay. It’ll just eat at you if you don’t. I know you almost as well as I know him.” She smiled gently at him, and Keith tried to pretend she wasn’t seeing right through him.

“Get some rest,” he said. He walked out and went to Lance’s room knocking on the door. “Hey, Lance…. Can you open the door?” No answer. “Can I come in?” No answer. Keith felt a ball of dread roll in his stomach. “Lance, please answer me. Just tell me if you’re asleep or if you want to be alone.” Still no answer. Unable to help himself, Keith pressed the button to let the door slide open and ushered in, not sure what to expect.

But the room was empty.

He frowned and left, checking the restrooms. There were no showers on, and every bathroom stall was open. He wasn’t there.

He checked the kitchen, the training room, the lounge area, he checked _everywhere_ and there was no sign of Lance. Keith was beginning to panic. He stopped, leaning against the wall as he shut his eyes.

_Patience yields focus. Patience- yields- focus._

The hangar. He hadn’t checked the hangar. He nearly sprinted over to where the lions were stored, feeling like he’d puke if he didn’t find him there. Thankfully, he was. But before Keith could speak, he heard the sniffles. The sobs.

“You just left me, Blue. I thought what we had was special. Was I not good enough for you anymore? Am I even worth being a paladin? God, who am I kidding? She told me herself, right?” He buried his face in his hands as Keith watched with a breaking heart. “I’m such an idiot. I don’t belong here; I’m not a good paladin. They don’t need me. Why do I _always_ mess up? I’m just in their way, she’s right. She’s right.”

She?

Keith had barely managed to form his name on his lips before it clicked in his head. There were only two girls on this castle, one of whom cared too much about Lance to say anything to hurt him. The other, one who had been notorious for being hard on them, for pushing them until they were on the verge of breaking. But this time, she had managed to break Lance.

Fueled by anger and a protective sense he found himself only ever feeling for Lance, he barge to the control room where he found Allura researching the galaxy, using her fingers to create blue screens and talking under her breath.

“Allura!” he snapped.

She turned, a wide smile on her face. “Oh, Keith! Thank goodness you’re here, I was hoping you could help me-”

He stepped towards her, closer than he ever had before, an angry scowl contorting his face. “I’m _not_ here for you,” he growled. Allura gasped and stepped back, staring at Keith with wide eyes. “Listen up, Princess,” he spat. “I’ve come to know Lance better than myself ever since we got flung into space and you forced us to pilot these lions and be your paladins. And believe me when I tell you, you will _never_ meet anyone as trusting or as kind as him in any corner of the universe. He would do _anything_ for you, Allura.” Keith felt his voice waver and he furrowed his eyebrows. “You know, from the moment he met you, from the moment he _caught_ you after you woke up, he’s been head over heels for you. He made sure we all knew.”

He swallowed the knot in his throat and stepped closer, remembering the way Lance had looked at her, the cheesy pick up line he’d used, the way his eyes would follow her, the way he was so eager to do everything just right for her. “Do you have any idea why I just stood by and let him swoon over you?” She stared at him with wide multicolored eyes, eyebrows furrowed as she looked at him with a mixture of fear and guilt.

Keith was high on anger, adrenaline, hurt, and another emotion he’d been trying to suffocate deep in the recesses of his mind. So the words bubbled up his throat and spewed from him before he could stop them or even _think_ about them. But that was the thing about these emotions. They weren’t about thinking. Not at all.

“I love him more than I’ve loved anything before, and he deserves to be happy more than anyone. I’d choose his happiness over my own every single time,” he gasped as he thought of the way Lance had comforted him after the black lion had responded to him, the way he’d looked at him during the food fight that first let them bond, the sheer joy on his face as they had their own version of a snowball fight in space, or the smirk when they managed to get out of that stupid broken elevator. Of how he’d remained quiet and slightly hurt each time Lance flirted with Allura or wondered about her or got jealous because of her. His voice was raw and broken when he spoke again. “Allura. He’s the best thing in my life.” Without Shiro, without his family- wherever they were- without Red as his own lion…. Lance was all he had left.

And Allura thought it was okay to hurt him? To bring him down and make him feel useless, when Lance had saved them all countless times, when Lance had been the one keeping them together from the start? Yes, Shiro had been the leader, but Lance… Lance was the reason they were out here, the reason Blue woke up, the reason Allura had even woken up, the sharpshooter that had saved them countless times, the one with a plan when Keith could only act on a whim, the one person who served as Keith’s impulse control.

He bared his teeth at Allura. “It’s thanks to him you’re even alive, thanks to him all of us are even here. It’s thanks to him Blue even woke up for you. And after everything he’s done for you, the way he’s fought for you, every single sacrifice he’s made, have you ever thanked him? He left behind his family, and he still manages to be the most upbeat, enthusiastic person in this castle, and all you can do is hurt him and tear him down! How selfish are you, Allura?”

Allura’s face was contorted, tears glistening in her eyes. Keith felt his anger subside as he’d managed to unleash it all on the princess who always managed to demand more out of them.

“I’m so sor-”

“Don’t apologize to me,” Keith growled. “Apologize to him. Make him see what everyone else sees. That he’s the worthiest of being a paladin out of any of us. That without him, we’d be nothing. _You_ would be nothing.” He turned away, feeling his hands shaking as he walked, his heart hammering in his chest.

He didn’t notice Pidge, Hunk, and Coran standing on the other side of the hallway as Keith turned opposite of them to go to his room and pretend he hadn’t just drowned in every emotion he’d told himself not to feel.


End file.
